Spying scandal sends US influence on Latin America into nosedive

Mauricio Savarese has been a journalist since 2003, and holds an MA in Interactive Journalism from the City University London. A former reporter for Reuters, Yahoo! and Brazil news websites UOL and Globo.com, he blogs on Latin American affairs. He has covered two Olympic Games, presidential elections in Brazil and abroad, a papal conclave and general news stories. He spent three years as a correspondent, half of this time in Brasilia on political stories and the other half in London. He has contributed to RT since the June protests in Brazil, both in English and Spanish. He is also a partner in The Conteudo, a web content agency in Sao Paulo, and a freelance journalist specializing in politics and sport.

America for the Americans -
this is a cornerstone of United States’ foreign policy. That
doctrine, introduced 190 years ago by President James Monroe,
means this: foreigners keep out of the US’ backyard. For decades
it [US foreign policy] also sat well with the elites in Latin
America. They even promoted generals to dictators if the men in
uniform loved Washington enough. Well, those days are long
gone.

Unlike Europeans, who complicitly give a wink and a nudge to the
US in the mass surveillance scandal, Latin America is angry. In a
drastic move, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, a moderate,
decided to call off a State visit to Washington. Leftists in the
region are now more aggressive and right-wingers have been
pressured to speak out. American experts may insist their focus
is on Syria, but the backyard is rising in revolt. The National
Security Agency (NSA) scandals have made it impossible for
regional leaders to keep quiet without looking weak.

Brazil’s snub has the biggest implications. The decision was
taken after Ms Rousseff discovered her personal communications
were being spied on. Every South American leader called to
support her, including Colombia’s Juan Manuel Santos, the only
close ally Barack Obama has left in the region. She promised to
attack mass surveillance at the United Nations. Boeing is now
likely to lose a US$4 billion deal on fighter jets.

Without the Brazilian buffer, leftists are emboldened. Bolivia’s
Evo Morales said he will sue Obama in the international courts
for human rights violations after Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro was
blocked for a few hours from flying over Puerto Rico. These two
and Ecuador’s Rafael Correa are likely to push more for bringing
leaker Edward Snowden to South America. After Hugo Chavez passed
away they needed a joint agenda to improve their chemistry.

NSA revelations also made Argentina’s Cristina Kirchner reach out
to Brazil to improve their cyber defense. Countries in the region
are now paying attention to this project in order to develop
their own email systems: specifically designed for those who
don’t want Google and Yahoo accounts which allow US intelligence
in. That is open retaliation, but much more might happen behind
closed doors. American presence is still important; but now that
China’s star is rising rapidly as Latin America’s trade partner,
the pressure is on the US.

US influence is so low at the moment that even Mexico’s
conservative President Enrique Peña Nieto was forced to speak out
and demand an investigation. Political pressure gave him no
alternative but to condemn the NSA for stealing data on his
ministerial picks. Chile’s Sebastián Piñera also had to come out
fighting. These leaders aren’t surprised with the surveillance
itself, but the reach of it was just too bold.

The times are definitely a-changing. America might be on the way
to belonging to all Americans, and that includes Latin Americans
as well.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.